I shot a wedding as a second shooter as requested but I then put together a 4 minute show which included 2 small videos and 35 slides of the bride and groom. I told the client about it, when they inquired they said they really liked it. I told them it was $150 CDN, they said they were not prepared to pay that.

I plan to offer this as an extra on wedding packages, my plan is to make a template and drop photos and quick video into the show which would of course make the shows production much faster.

Music will be publicly licensed with credits because I know licensed music will kill any profit I make that's for sure! The question remains should I cut this price in half to say $75.00 and can the bride provide me with her own song for the show without getting into copyright issues.

I don't know about the price although a couple of things that might help "soften" it a bit - for your price, provide a bunch of DVD's, not just one. The bottom line is "supply and demand" - especially when getting started, you need to start off very lean to get your business going and get the word around. Sometimes this means doing it at a loss or even basically free. That is a VERY tough market there and there are a lot of people that jump into the wedding video field with grand ideas of making lots of money. There are many that do make a very good income doing that, but there are many more that have gone into other areas because they could not compete. You need to have a good price, but you also need to convince the prospective client that your work is worth that price. More often than not, the clients don't have a clue what goes into producing a decent video etc (and your work needs to reflect that expectation - images adjusted, cropped etc as needed, red-eyes removed).

As far as the licensing/ copyright stuff goes, that is a snake pit - you might want to check out the latest issue of Videomaker magazine - they have a good article on licensing and copyright stuff in there. There are a number of trapdoors you can drop through and be in violation of the various copyrights - for example, you videotape the reception when the DJ is playing the music for the dance. He (hopefully) has the right to play that music for the dance, HOWEVER, you do NOT have the right to the music in your video so including that in the video is technically a violation of the copyright. If the bride provides you with "her song" the only way that is legal is if she is singing it with her own band or if she has the license to use the music as she wants. Just because she purchases a CD with her favorite music does not give her the license to use the music on that CD as she wants (sort of like me deciding to give someone your car that you said I could borrow for the day). The whole licensing issue has gotten so complex that even the attorneys can't figure it out these days.

No, I am not the license police nor am I an attorney - I'm just passing along some of what I have read on this subject recently. There have been several very good threads here on the licensing issues as well as a number of good articles in the trade journals (check out the Videomaker one for a start).

My thoughts (which are only that--thoughts): Your 75-dollar price sounds good. After all the other huge expenses of a wedding, paying for a DVD that will be watched only a certain number of times might tip the scales for a lot of people. Whatever you do, don't EVER give away what you plan to eventually sell. Would you pay for something that someone else got for free? No? Neither would I. You probably ought to take the time to build several templates and create sample shows so the people can see the work you do. They need to know what they're paying for.

Why tell the wedding couple they can only choose the photos if they pay more? It comes across as an insult, if you think about it.

Keep looking for royalty-free music. There's a lot of it out there, and some of it is truly excellent.

Don't forget that apart from DVDs, you can output shows to a range of different formats! I would stress that, and cater towards that. Most couples these days have CD/DVD burning facilities - offer them a DVD image file (ISO) alongside one copy of the DVD, a stand-alone executable (EXE) plus a video file (a copy of which you have uploaded to Youtube). That way they have a DVD they can watch, and a variety of file formats they can share with others...

I point potential "clients" that contact me about my pet photography services back to my website where things are pretty clear. This helps avoid spending time explaining my style, products and prices to people that are not my target market in the first place.

If what they see doesn't fit their needs or budget, they're free to choose another that can fill those needs at a price they're willing to pay. Others providing the same or better quality service/product at a cheaper price often can't remain in business for long because the true cost of doing business forces them out of business and/or they burnout. People that have never run their own successful business don't understand that concept. To stay in business, I would say it's unwise and unrealistic to allow a customer to dictate the price of one's services by their non-factual conception of what it costs us to do business because the cost of doing business is different for everyone.

Iris has a great point. Don't discount the price else that's money that never reaches your pocket. If you wish to be flexible, find a way to offer a time-sensitive additional value for the price that doesn't cost you in a lot of your time or hard goods. It's a win/win situation that way. Once they pay a particular price, including a variety of formats might peak their interest because the value is now increased in their eyes as getting more for their money.

Hi Debbie - glad to hear you can see where I'm coming from! In fact I am speaking from experience... offering a range of formats certainly clinched the deal with the two photographers I have worked with to date. I simply provide the files and they are free to burn/brand and issue/sell the product as they see fit.